Ash

I have a spayed, indoor, five-year-old female cat who was recently diagnosed with feline idiopathic cystitis, which is a disorder where urinary problems in cats have no medical cause, but may be brought on by stress. She has spent the last two years living with our dog and our male Siamese cat in the same household, but the dynamics in our house have changed in the last few months: I'm working different hours, we've been renovating the house, and I'm pregnant, which I believe has brought on a change in our pets and therefore led to this diagnosis.

As she is currently going through a FIC episode, she is confined to our spare bedroom with a feliway diffuser, pet fountain, and regular wet food. Upon her recovery, we will be moving the male cat, who recently started showing signs of litterbox aggression, to my husband's computer shop. The room she is in will be cleaned, painted, and converted to a nursery. We will have two litterboxes for her that will be regularly changed.

My concern is that when I got to the hospital and return with the baby, she will be stressed and have another episode, something I don't want to have to deal with in addition to being a new mom. How can I prepare my cat for the new arrival?

NOTE: I am not even considering rehoming her. I have had her since she was a kitten and I refuse to give up on her.

I'm currently 24 weeks and while I've had a pretty easy pregnancy so far, I've recently had a lot of trouble sleeping.

I know to lie on my side, so I do this with assistance from a body pillow. The problem is that I will wake up halfway through the night with pains in the sides of my hips depending on which side I sleep on.

In addition, I've had heartburn since the beginning of my pregnancy that is getting worse as I get bigger (even though I'm still only barely showing). I try to prop my head with pillows, but this results in a sore neck and a headache the next morning.

Does anyone have any tips for getting a better sleep while pregnant?

A tradition in my husband's family is to give their sons Leslie as a middle name. Of course, I want to honor the tradition, but I want to give our son a name from my family as well (as I really don't like the name Leslie). These are what I'm thinking, paired with the name my husband and I agree on:

Connor Lyle Leslie (after my grandpa)

Connor Sheldon Leslie (after my dad - though would it be fair to name him after my dad if my husband's dad wasn't mentioned?)

Connor Brady Leslie (after my husband, though my husband would prefer I'd use a different name)

Connor Jonathan Leslie (after my brother)

Order is not important, so the names could be switched around.

I am currently 20 weeks pregnant with my first. I have been reading a lot about different feeding options as it seems that everyone has been asking me about how I plan to feed my baby (which I know is no one's business but my own). While I am aware of the benefits of breastfeeding (my nurse sister-in-law has outlined them all), I am nervous about it as no one in my family or my husband's family has breastfed their kids for longer than a couple weeks due to difficulties. In addition, I love the idea of my husband/others being able to feed the baby & I want to know how much my baby is eating. I'm also a very private person & I know I wouldn't be comfortable feeding the baby in front of others. I know formula is more expensive & there is the additional tasks of sterilizing bottles, mixing bottles, etc, but I have no qualms about using it to feed my child. Both my husband & I were formula fed & are fine.

I would love to try to breastfeed, but I refuse to drive myself crazy trying to make it work, which is why I'm leaning towards combination feeding as it seems to have the best of both worlds. There's still the added benefit of breast milk, but I get peace of mind knowing that baby is full & can be fed even when I'm not there. Only problem is that there's not much literature about it (that I've been able to find).

Are there any tips to establish a combination feeding schedule? Any recommendations on bottles to prevent nipple confusion? Is it possible to do from the very start?

I'm 18 weeks pregnant and do not know the gender of the baby yet. We will find out in two weeks. While I know my husband will be happy no matter what we have, I can tell he's leaning towards a boy (to be honest, so am I). I've been trying to convince him that even if we have a daughter, she will still be able to do most of the things a boy can and she could still like things that boys like.

For example, he wants to build a treehouse, but has said if we're having a girl, he won't bother. Or I saw a little play tool set at a garage sale and he said we should wait until we know if we're having a boy. Or we can have a dinosaur theme nursery for a boy, but not for a girl.

He says it's because he grew up with two sisters and just knows that a girl won't like certain things. He doesn't take into account that I am a bit of a tomboy and don't conform to the typical "girl" stereotypes. I spent a lot of time building stuff with my grandpa, I loved dinosaurs as a kid, and I built treehouses with my brother and cousins.

How can I get him past the gender stereotypes that he seems to cling to so that he will be more open to the idea of a daughter?

I have always been very close with my aunt until the last couple of years. She's been dating this guy who the family disapproves of. He uses her, he manipulates her, he's insulted almost every member of my family, lies, can't hold a job, and drinks excessively. As far as I know, he's never been abusive to her, but during one of his drunken escapades, he's kicked out a window and threatened to kill himself.

I'm currently pregnant with my first child and my aunt is over the moon. She's told me that they are both so happy about the baby, which is great, but I feel anxious about it. I love her to death, but I don't want her boyfriend near my baby. I don't want him holding the baby or even her babysitting while he's around. My mom, dad, grandma, and husband completely agree with me on this matter. How do I talk to my aunt about this? Do I get my mom involved as it's her sister? I don't want to cause them to fight over him (again). I don't want to hurt my aunt, but I've got to think about my baby's safety.

It's just me and her in a small office building in a small town. My boss visits about twice a week. She's a banker and I sell insurance. At first, she seemed nice enough, but over the last three months, she's been getting on my nerves. I'm usually pretty patient, but I think pregnancy hormones are getting the best of me. She's older (mid 50's) and I'm in my late 20's.

She complains about everything, whining about her job (which I know nothing about), lamenting some of her customers difficult situations (which seems pretty unprofessional), talks about her family's hardships (which I sympathized with the first five times she brought it up), and just day to day things that seem trivial (ex. the wind sometimes blows our door open and she complains every time). I've tried tuning her out as I have my work to get done, but she actually said, "Stop and listen to me complain." She takes over my work space, using my desk while I'm trying to work. She second guesses everything I do and snoops to see what I bring for lunch. She smokes outside, which I wouldn't care too much about, but she brings her butts in, throws them in the toilet and doesn't flush. It's gross and the bathroom smells like cigarette smoke.

I get that people need to vent, but this is getting ridiculous. I know that I should talk to her about it...any tips for how I go about that conversation?

My dog was sprayed by a skunk while at my parents' farm. We bathed him outside and then, as it started to rain, we loaded him into my car to take him home to finish bathing him.

Now, four days later, my car reeks like skunk. I have cloth seats and I'm wondering what's best to get rid of the smell.

I have a five-year-old female cat who, unless battling a UTI, goes regularly in her litter box.

Recently, in the last two-three months, she has began urinating by our back door. When the problem started, she would pee on anything soft on the floor in this area( eg. towels, welcome mat). I immediately took her to the vet and started antibiotics. She was good for about three weeks following the treatment and then she began the same behavior, but less frequent. Maybe once every two weeks. She was still using the litter box, but every once in a while, she would pee in this location. Now she is doing it every couple of days, this morning even peeing outright on the tile. I have made an appointment to take her to the vet tomorrow morning, despite my husband's insistence that it is more likely behavioral.

The more I think about it, the more I wonder if he may be right. When the problem initially started, we had been doing renovations to this area. We put down a tile floor (it had just been a sub floor prior) and painted the walls. We put down a carpet welcome mat to catch any mud or snow. In addition, I also discovered that I was pregnant at this time, so hubby was put on litter duty and despite my instructions, he puts less litter in the box than I do, is trying out a different type of litter, and has less patience for her litterbox OCD.

Has anyone else noticed any changes in their cats following a renovation? Any solutions?